Setsugetsuka Monogatari: 雪月花物語(Tales of the Snow, Moon, and Flowers)
by Cat-Stat-Ave
Summary: Raised in a world of women and followed by a tragic curse, Wakana Koyome finds herself struggling to hide her new friendship with Rihan from her crazy family and youkai obssessed friends. Will their friendship grow to be more or will Rihan's guarded heart prevent him from doing so. Follow them on this three year journey filled with friendship, family, love, and Granny Yakuzas!
1. Prologue

Here's the first chapter you guy! I want to give a big shout to my Beta Tsukuyomu and friend for helping with this story, and I hope you'll enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Nurarihyon no Mago and the characters in this story belong to their respectful owner.

* * *

**_Prologue_**

It was a lovely spring day in the town of Ukiyoe with every tree blooming to its greatest beauty. The petals fell slowly and softly from their high limbs creating the illusion of pink and white rain.

The people within Ukiyoe went on with their day-to-day lives; the few that lived in one particular neighborhood spent their days going past the Nura manor. The manor had always been there in the same spot; the neighbors' great-grandparents could still recall the presence of the strange manor from their childhood memories.

No one really knew what went on inside the manor, nor did they really care about it, although rumors among the young children would say that the Nura house was filled with monsters, while others stated that the Yakuza inhabited the estate. Still, the people would soon accept that there would be no definitive answer to what lay behind the stone gates that enclosed the old Nura estate and would continue on with their daily routines, completely unaware that both the rumors whispered to each other in their youth were in fact true.

Within the stone enclosure was housed the infamous Nura Clan, the clan that had legions of youkai serving their leader, Nurarihyon.

Inside the parlor room of the manor, two gentlemen sat in front of each other, drinking tea with the shoji doors open, inviting the nice breeze that the day was offering.

The smaller man was dressed in a brown robe over a dark green kimono. He appeared advanced in age, as wrinkles marred his once handsome face and his gourd-shaped head was bare of any hair except for a small ponytail at the tip of his elongated skull.

The man facing him was three–if not four–times his size, clad in a light blue kosode and green hakama. His face was hidden behind a Noh mask of a feminine nature with long, black hair framing it.

The smaller man was the Nura Clan's Supreme Commander, Nurarihyon and the other was one of his closest companions, Hihi the leader of the Kantou Great Ape Alliance, or simply the Hihi Clan.

Both men were enjoying their own company as they snacked on kofuku manju and sipped sweet green tea. It had been some time since the two leaders had chatted with each other on matters that did not involve business.

"My wife is with child." Hihi stated with joy as he poured tea into the Supreme Commander's cup.

Nurarihyon's face lit up like a candle at his friend's news, "Really, Kayama's pregnant?" Hihi nodded to his friend as he placed the kettle aside.

"So how far along is she?" Nurarihyon inquired as he reached for a manju.

"She's about thirty-eight weeks along." The Supreme Commander nearly choked on his snack upon his comrade's revelation, then after coughing up the piece that was lodged in his throat, he stared at Hihi with a mixture of shock, confusion, and slight annoyance.

Nurarihyon soon recomposed himself and picked up his cup, "So your wife is about to give birth to _YOUR CHILD_, the heir of the Hihi Clan." He paused for a moment to sip his tea and then continued "And you didn't tell me about it?"

"Kayama didn't want the attention from the other clans; you know she's rather uncomfortable being in the spotlight." Hihi calmly explained to his old friend as Nurarihyon's face eased up.

"Still..." Nurarihyon pulled his favorite kiseru pipe and tobacco pouch out of his sleeve, "You could have told me." He placed the kiseru in between his lips and began to inhale.

"Actually, you were at the top of the list of people she did not want to tell." Hihi answered with a little chuckle, causing his friend to abruptly halt his inhaling.

Nurarihyon's eyes became as big as saucers while he held his breath then quickly expelled the smoke from his mouth in a small gray cloud.

Seeing the Nura leader's distress, the giant raised his hand from his lap in an effort to calm him, "Kayama means you no disrespect, it's just-"

"No, no." Nurarihyon interrupted by moving his head from side to side, "I respect your wife's need for privacy." He then took another drag from his kiseru with his face still retaining its irritated expression for a few minutes longer.

Nurarihyon let out a huge grin to the soon-to-be father, "All and all, I'm happy for you and your wife, I wish her a safe and easy delivery."

Hihi slightly bowed his head in gratitude and thanked him. The Supreme Commander leaned back and tilted his head a little to his left to see out the open shoji door.

"Oi Rihan!" he called out, "Did you hear that? Hihi is going to be a father! Isn't that great?"

Outside the parlor, a young man, the Second Heir, Nura Rihan, appearing to be either in his early or mid-twenties sat on the engawa with his legs dangling of the ledge. He wore a green stripedkinagashi with a brown inner kimono that hung rather loosely on his torso, his feet bare.

Despite the cheerfulness of the weather and the good-will of the people in the parlor, the air around the young man was dark and lifeless. The half-breed ayakashi was in human form, having no energy to transform into his youkai form during the day. He leaned most of his upper body on a wooden beam with a bottle half-filled with sake clutched in his hands. His black hair was disheveled and covered both his shoulders and his eyes.

Thinking that his son had not heard him, Nurarihyon called out to him again, "Oi! Rihan! Did you hear me?"

The father was only greeted with the sound of sake sloshing inside the bottle as his son drank from it. Nurarihyon's ire was beginning to rise at his son's silence.

"RIHAN!"

At the cry of his name, the young man lowered the sake bottle from his lips and slowly turned his head towards the two men in the parlor.

"What?" His tone lacked emotion and his gaze seemed to suck all the joy and lightheartedness from the inhabitants in the open room.

Nurarihyon's body became rigid with a budding aggravation as he repeated the news in a slow, matter-of-fact manner, "Hihi and Kayama-san are going to have their first child."

He paused for a second, "I believe congratulations are in order, don't you think?" It sounded more like a dare than a question, testing to see what his successor would do or say.

The lifeless man stared at them for a minute or two before speaking again, "Congratulations." There was no hint of joy or excitement in his voice; if anything, it had a tint of bitterness and self-loathing hidden in it. He turned his head back around and took another swig of sake.

Suddenly Nurarihyon rose from his spot, he strode from the parlor room to the engawa where Rihan was sitting and smacked the Second Heir on the back of his head. The impact of his father's hand made the sake go down the wrong path, causing Rihan to cough in order to expel the liquid from his airway. Rihan then raised his head to look at his father, two violet-gray eyes that were dull like stone bore into Nurarihyon's gaze.

Nurarihyon continued to stare at his heir with a look of anger, annoyance, and oddly enough, understanding. He, as well as the Nura clan, knew the cause of the young man's state.

It was about this time when Nura Rihan was given the news that his beloved wife, Yamabuki Otome, had passed away. Throughout the rest of the year, Rihan would act almost like he was before Otome's death, he would still give a smile to his underlings, laugh at parties that the Nura Clan would throw, and lead his Night Parade with a strong, commanding stance. He could easily hide his suffering until the anniversary of his spouse's passing, then his merry act would subside and his emotional resolve would weaken.

Rihan would isolate himself from the clan members so they could not see him in such a way, even if some of them were already aware of his misery. He would lock himself in his chambers or leave the Nura Manor without informing anyone.

When he did the latter, the whole manor–mostly his trusted attendant–would be thrown into a state of nervous frenzy; however, Nurarihyon would only tell them to calm themselves and leave his son be.

Nurarihyon knew how this cycle functioned because he had experienced the very same pain when his own wife had passed. After a few decades of periods of yearly grieving, he managed to wean himself from his desires for isolation and mourning, and began living his life again with a lighter heart.

But for one reason or another, Rihan had no such luck shaking off the annual habit that he had adopted from him. In fact, these "times of mourning" seemed to have steadily become worse and worse within the last few years. They were starting to become longer and he was beginning to drink more excessively.

Nurarihyon was pulled from his train of thought when Rihan slowly got up from his spot and lumbered toward the door that lead to the entrance of the manor. He stopped at the threshold to have one last look at his father.

"I'm going out..." Nurarihyon still held the same look of annoyance on his face. Rihan held his gaze for a moment before disappearing through the doorway, neither of the men saw the dark clouds of a rainstorm following the Second Heir.

* * *

Please REVIEW!


	2. Snow Arc: Ryokan of Tokio Funka

**Here's the first chapter you guys/girls! **

**I would like to thank my Beta Tsukuyomu again for helping with this story, and I hope you'll enjoy it!**

**I would also like to thank OkitaRetatski, xLollipopLovex, EmbraceEveryDream, Randomness-sama, and the one random person For reviewing my story! **

**Disclaimer: Nurarihyon no Mago and the song that gave me the idea for the name of the town in this story belong to their respectful owners.**

* * *

**_Yukihen:_****雪編(Snow Arc)**

**1**

**_Tokio Funka no Ryokan:_時男噴火の旅館(Ryokan of Tokio Funka)**

There was a small town a mile or two away from Ukiyoe called Tokio Funka. Tokio Funka was mainly a resort town, whose income relied partly on its tourism. Souvenir shops, traditional restaurants, and the one convenience store dotted the narrow street ways.

Tokio Funka once had a history of being a haven for gambling, drinking, and beautiful oirans until the Meiji era. Most of the "historical" texts of the town refer to it as the "Youkai's Playground" due to the fact that there have been several accounts of sightings of supernatural creatures at night; however, modern historians have quickly come to the conclusion that the "writers" were intoxicated and hallucinated, thinking that they had seen monsters.

That was one of the two things that drew tourists to Tokio Funka. But what really piqued the interest of many and made them flock to the nearly hidden town, was the ryokan known as the Fuubutsushi Inn. Passed the street of stores was an old stone road that led into a forest of flowering cherry trees. The pathway was concealed by the shadows of the trees' branches, and only small streams of light served as a means of illuminating the way to the ryokan, which was located at the end of the pathway.

The ryokan was a large two story building, inspired by classical Japanese architecture; it had yukimi lanterns lining the entrance's pathway.

The shouji panels were hand-painted with images of blossoms in every shade of pink and red against the white surface, and the fusumas were decorated with the same flowery designs as the panels.

This is what gave the Fuubutsushi its alluring charm. The building itself was sedate, whereas the removable furniture such as the shoji, fusumas, futons, and any other form of decoration changed with the passing seasons. Since the current season was spring, the ryokan's motif was that of floral designs, reflecting the trees outside.

On the first floor the Fuubutsushi had twenty guest rooms, half were single rooms and the other half family rooms and all came with soft futons, a small table for eating and writing, a standard sized closet, a sink and toilet, and a door that led to the gardens that surrounded the ryokan.

The second floor only had four rooms, these rooms were known as the "Seasonal Suits " because the interior of each space had the theme of one season assigned to them. They were each twice the size of a family room on the first floor and were lavishly furnished, in comparison to the first floor rooms.

Most of the staff were friendly and would do anything to make their guests feel more comfortable and happy. The nakais would see to the various requests made by their clients, the requests ranging from bringing them breakfast and dinner, waking them up in the morning, to even just simply spending some time talking to the ones that came without additional company.

A young part-time nakai was walking through the halls of the first floor carrying a dinner tray to a guest's room. The girl was about fifteen in age with long brown hair that was tightly bound in a braid with a messy fringe around her face. Her eyes were a lively shade of brown that had a glint of wonder and excitement far beyond that of any girl her age. Her uniform was a plain black kimono with a cherry blossom-colored obi and tabi socks.

Her steps came to a halt at the guest's designated room, and as she knelt to set the tray down, she heard an odd sound coming for behind the door. She curiously moved her ear closer to the door.

There was a peculiar rustling followed by light grunting, the nature of the noise cause the nakai to hesitated but in the end she decided to knock on the door.

"Maromura-san?" She called out quietly, still nervous of what she might find behind the shouji there. "It's dinner time, may I come in?"

The rustling continued and became more erratic. Then a strained voice cried out from the other side of the door.

"HELP ME!"

The cry caused the nakai to quickly rise to her feet and open the sliding door. She rushed into the room, only to find a very large, heavy set man lying on his side on his futon, flailing his short, thick limbs in the air.

The guest turned his head to the young girl and reached his hand towards her. "Wakana-chan! Please! Help me! I can't get up!"

Without a second thought, the nakai named Wakana, was at the fat man's side and grasped his hands, using all of her strength in an attempt to pull Maromura up into a sitting position on his futon.

"Maromura-san, what happened?" She asked with a somewhat strained voice from the attempt to pull his weight.

"Well, I was trying to do some after nap stretches when I pulled a back muscle and the rest went downhill from there." The portly man explained.

Since his palms and fingers were slightly sweaty from his previous attempts in trying to sit up, causing Wakana's hands to slip from his, and resulted in her falling down to the floor.

Maromura helped Wakana up from floor while cheerfully saying, "Thank you for helping me Wakana-chan!" Moving his arms and shoulders a bit, he exclaimed, "You even fixed the pain in my shoulder!"

Wakana smiled as she shuffled to the open doorway to retrieve the food tray that she had abandoned only a while ago and she began to place each dish in its' proper order. Once the meal was set, Maromura scooted himself closer to the table and brought his hands together.

"I shall receive!"

He parted his hands and started to eat his food with glee. Wakana watched him with a smile of contentment, Maromura was a very large man with a bald, moon-shaped face, and he was theFuubutsushi's most loyal and favorite client. He was kind to the staff and always had a funny story to tell them or candy in his pockets to share.

Maromura stopped eating for a moment to look at the nakai across the table. "So Wakana-chan, are you excited for your first day of high school?" He inquired.

Wakana let out another bright smile, "Yes I am, Maromura-san."

Maromura paused to eat a piece of sashimi before continuing, "The school you're going to, St. Sasanqua Academy, is an all-girl's school, right?"

Before the teenaged nakai could answer, a scream shattered the peaceful air in the ryokan. Fearing for someone's safety, Wakana lept to her feet and darted for the door while Maromura followed closely behind, but not without taking the plate of tempura with him.

Wakana soon located the source of the scream, which was one of the stairs that lead to one of the suits. One of the staff members was on her stomach, tears streaming down her face.

Wakana rushed to her co-worker, "Mayu-san, what happened to you?" She asked while checking for any injuries.

"What happened," A new voice sounded from the top stairs. Wakana and the nakai raised their heads to the source of the voice, to see an extremely beautiful woman descending the stairs. Her red painted lips moved with grace as she spoke with venom in her voice, "is that that worthless little tramp mishandled my luggage and now everything is a mess!"

Wakana stood up to face the enraged woman and bowed her head, "We are sorry for your inconvenience, we'll–"

"Sorry won't cut it, that idiot needs to be taught a lesson, the old fashioned way!" The female guest cut off Wakana's apology as she prepared to strike the girl again.

Wakana became angry at the threat of abuse towards her and got in-between the woman and her co-worker.

"Please calm down Madame!" Wakana demanded with a timid courage as she tried to remain firm in her standing. Normally, Wakana would not be afraid of a horrible guest, however this guest was different. There was a strange air around her that was somehow darker than normal people.

Even though it put her on edge, Wakana knew that she had to stand her ground until management came, so she shouted at the dark haired woman, "You don't need to take it out on her!"

A moment of silence passed, and oddly, the woman seemed to obey the girl's request as her body began to relax and she gazed at her intently with her dark eyes.

"You're right." The woman answered coolly, "It's silly taking my anger out on her."

With that comment, Wakana lowered her stance, feeling that she had solved the problem. Then suddenly she felt a sharp, stinging pain on her left cheek and realized that she was falling down to the ground.

Once she made contact with the floor, she looked up that the woman. Her hand was raised slightly, hinting that she was the one who had assaulted her, a sadistic grin painted her face.

"I'll take it out on you instead."

Wakana felt something warm trickle down her cheek and brought her fingers to it. She brought her fingers to her line of sight and her eyes widen when she saw blood on them. She looked back up to the woman and noticed that the hand she used to slap her with had a beautiful ring on her finger.

The woman stepped closer to the injured Wakana and violently grabbed her hair so they were face to face.

"Next time you want to be brave and pretend to be a hero, think about the consequences of what happens when you stick your nose where it doesn't belong." The woman readied herself to punish Wakana, and gripped her hair tighter so as to prevent her from escaping.

"Is there a problem here?"

The three membered party all turned their heads to the direction of where the voice came, paying attention to the woman that was coming in their direction. The woman looked to be about middle-aged with streaks of brown hair mingling with the aged gray, and folds around her brown eyes and small mouth. This woman was the owner and manager of the Fuubutsushi Inn.

The woman was smartly dressed, yet her outfit seemed to be mismatched in contrast to the setting she was in. She wore a dusty, dark pink Western-styled long dress that reached her knees with a black blazer over it. Her neck was concealed by a cream silk scarf, and her hair, which went down to her shoulders.

Her expression was both calm and indifferent; however there was one thing that seemed to clash about her face. On the right side of her face was a small scar on her cheek bone under her eye.

The guest soon let go of Wakana's hair, causing the girl to stumble a bit before regaining her balance. The older woman turned her gaze from the girl to her attacker.

"What seems to be the problem Momiji-sama?" The manager spoke in a very distant and professional tone.

Momiji corrected herself making herself presentable to the woman. "Well, this girl made an error packing my bags." Momiji pointed to her first victim.

"Then this little wretch tried to cause me more problems by yelling at me because I tried to correct her friend's mistake." She moved her finger to Wakana, and artfully told a lie to make herself seem like she was the injured party.

The two nakais gave the woman a deadpanned look, which could easily be read as 'You lying bitch'.

The owner of the ryokan turned her head to Wakana and Mayu and held eye contact with them for a minute or two before returning her gaze to Momiji, still holding that same cold and professional look.

The aged woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking again, "I suppose you're right, people really should stay out of each other's business." Momiji smiled, feeling that she had won.

"Momiji-sama, I, Koyome Rikuko, humbly apologize for my staff." The older woman said as she folded her hands in front of her and bowed her head to the guest. Momiji's grin grew larger as she thought that she had the old bag under her thumb.

Rikuko lifted her head to look her square in the eye and said with a straight face and formal tone, "That you are an insufferable bitch."

The comment caused the expression on Momiji's face to quickly change from triumph to rage, "Hey, how dare you say that to me you old hag!"

The infuriated guest stared at Rikuko with a death glare trying to intimate the old woman into giving her a true apology.

The manager was unfazed however and decided to berate her anyway, "You see Momiji-sama, my staff and I can handle trash talk and harsh, cruel words because we know that we only have to deal with them for only a short time until they check out and we don't have to hear of them again."

Then like a match being lit, Rikuko's face gained an intense look of annoyance as she added on, "Assaulting the staff, on the other hand, is an entire separate matter."

Loath of feeling foolish Momiji's face grew darker with her ire, she wanted this woman to fear her, but why was she the one feeling small and helpless?

Rikuko noticed this, and pulled her face closer to Momiji. Her eyes showed no fear and she whispered to her slowly, "That trick won't work on me."

Once Momiji realized that Rikuko was not going to back down, she decided to be somewhat polite to her so she could get out of this with her dignity still intact.

"Well, I think it is time for me to take my leave." She brought her eyes to meet Mayu's, "You, Miyu, go back to my suite and pack my things correctly this time." She coldly demanded as she prepared to go up the stairs.

That order seriously pissed off Rikuko (who still only lightly showed it) so she quickly intervened, "Alright, first off, her is name is Mayu, second, she is not going anywhere near you after you pushed her, and third, you can pack your damn bags yourself." She trailed off bluntly as Momiji started to shake with both anger and hesitation.

"You can't talk like that to me! Do you even know who I am!?" The haughty guest screamed at the owner, not wishing to be subjugated by her any longer.

The look on Rikuko's face abruptly became darker than her opponent's as she pushed her face closer to the woman so that they were nose to nose.

"Listen here you spoiled asshole, I have been _VERY_ patient with you, and now that patience is wearing thin." She said with a sound that was a combination of a growl and whisper, the words nearly cutting through Momiji.

"Now, are you going to leave quietly, or am I going to have to smack a bitch?" Rikuko finished with a cheerful smile, causing most of the people in the hallway to become unnerved.

Mayu, who had been behind Wakana during the whole ordeal, tapped her co-worker's shoulder to get her attention, "Koyome-chan, your grandmother is kind of scary," she admitted to Wakana, who just simply chuckled at her nervousness.

"Don't worry; Granma is not like this all time." Wakana said reassuringly as the girls watched Momiji rush up the stairs.

Once at the top, Momiji took one last glare that the Fuubutsushi staff with ill will in her eyes. Rikuko saw this and decided to make a frighting face as she hissed like a cat, causing the soon-to-be ex-guest to jump with shock and with huffily back into her suit.

* * *

**Please Review!**


End file.
